Love is blind — or is it?
Netflix had an absolute smash hit on its hands from the moment Love Is Blind Season 1 premiered.
From its impeccable set design, down-to-earth hosts, and a relatable cast with a flair for drama, the show has it all.
At least, that's what it seems.
While its massive fan base is undeniable, it's hard to overlook the fact that a glaringly large portion of the population is unrepresented on Love Is Blind.
The concept of this reality dating series is that looks shouldn't matter when finding a partner to spend your life with. At least, that's what they tell us.
But as much as they tout that premise, they still happily and exclusively cast conventionally attractive, thin, and mostly white participants.
The producers also haven't explored opening up the series to include the LGBTQ+ community, a move that other similar shows have found successful. The Ultimatum: Queer Love, another standout Netflix hit, drew in a new fan base — one that Love Is Blind is largely missing out on.
That's not to say that there has never been an LGBTQ+ participant on Love Is Blind. Unfortunately, when Carlton Morton came out to his fiance on the show, he was met with a less-than-welcoming response.
The show also has issues with size. In the best case, they want to pretend that fat people don't exist. Worst case? The producers don't think fat people deserve to experience a whirlwind, fairytale romance.
Very few Love Is Blind participants have ever seen the plus-sized clothing section of a department store. Why is that?
Are the producers afraid that the show's premise will fall apart if someone discovers they accidentally fell in love with a fat person and rejects their new fiance on sight?
Is it about the image for the streaming giant? Fatphobia in mainstream television is no secret, and it would surprise no one to learn that Netflix specifically avoided casting plus-sized participants.
Throughout the second season, we're forced to watch Abhiskek "Shake" Chatterjee loudly proclaim that he wasn't attracted to the woman he got engaged to in the pods. Over and over again.
His then-fiancee, the absolutely stunning Deepti Vempati, was the subject of Shake's disrespectful comments for an entire season and beyond.
Again, we're talking about an objectively beautiful woman with whom this man supposedly fell in love through a solid wall.
Once they met in person, he couldn't stop talking about how deeply unattracted to Deepti he was. Ultimately, the two went their separate ways at the altar.
Most of the couples who get engaged in the pods and go on to meet in person for the first time talk about how beautiful their new partner is.
Many of them make comments about how their fiance isn't the type of person they'd normally go for, but they still find them attractive.
At no point on the show has a couple ever said they didn't find their partner physically appealing and then gone on to get married.
To be fair, the hosts of Love Is Blind have never claimed that looks don't matter at all in a relationship. They just set out to prove that it was possible to fall in love with a person without knowing what they looked like.
That hasn't stopped participants from having conversations inside the pods about physical features, though.
One Season 6 cast member learned the hard way that mentioning a potential celebrity doppelganger could backfire.
When Jimmy Presnell asked Chelsea Blackwell during a pod date if she'd ever been told she looked like a celebrity, she answered honestly.
Despite making it clear that she didn't see the resemblance, Chelsea's admission that she'd been compared to Megan Fox created a firestorm.
Not only did Jimmy accuse Chelsea of lying about her appearance, but she also became the subject of countless memes across the internet.
There's nothing quite like being relentlessly made fun of by strangers for a passing comment, is there?
Clearly, looks matter in this show. And not only that — they carry quite a lot of weight.
Other cast members have shared little details about their looks. Height, weight, eye, and hair color: These features are casually brought up because people are trying to carefully suss out whether someone is worth their time.
Would Love Is Blind be successful if they cast average-looking people? Unlikely.
Part of the show's charm is the fact that it takes its viewers on a ride to a land where everyone is glamorous, everyone is a star, and everyone has a chance at a happy ever after.
As long as you're attractive, of course.
Don't forget to be straight and thin, too, or else you might find that love actually has perfect vision.
The show is entertaining, of course. It gives us what we want: drama, romance, suspense, and more drama.
It's important that we recognize that reality TV is anything but real. The folks behind the curtain are methodically choosing who will take part in these shows.
If you don't feel represented, it's not because you're any less valuable than anyone else. It's because there's a system in place that prioritizes certain people because their stories sell.
Love isn't blind, but the system is.